What does this year's NFL draft mean for Jake Wieneke and Dallas Goedert?

Dallas Goedert (86) and Jake Wieneke will be two of FCS football's top NFL prospects next season.(Photo: AP)

The NFL draft was this weekend and the big (well, only) news locally was the selection of Sioux Falls’ Nate Gerry by Philadelphia in the 5th round.

South Dakota State didn’t have any real ready-made NFL prospects among this year’s senior class, while USD defensive back Tyson Graham will attend rookie minicamps with the 49ers and Colts and USF quarterback Luke Papilion was invited to a rookie minicamp by the Lions. USD punter Mile Bergner figured to get an invite somewhere, too.

Next year, however, draft weekend figures to be a big one for the Jackrabbits.

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SDSU players looking towards 2018.
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Tight end Dallas Goedert and wide receiver Jake Wieneke are both going to be seniors this fall, and both will be wrapping up truly legendary careers with SDSU. Both seem likely to be taken in the draft. But how high? It’s impossible to know for sure (Gerry, for example, was listed as a 7th-round choice or rookie free agent on most mock drafts this year), but we can use some of this year’s selections to make an educated guess.

There were 15 FCS players taken in the draft – nearly 100 more have accepted invitations to rookie minicamps or signed as UFA’s.

Villanova defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon – whom the Jacks played against in their 10-7 playoff win in December – was the first FCS player selected, taken in the 2nd round by the Chiefs.

Cooper Kupp, a 6-2, 204-pound wide receiver, was next, going to the Rams early in the 3rd round. He was the 7th receiver taken. And another Jackrabbit opponent, Youngstown state defensive end Derek Rivers, was taken late in the 3rd by the Super Bowl champion Patriots.

Drake tight end Eric Saubert, who was impressive in a 56-28 loss to SDSU in the first game at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, went in the 5th round to Atlanta.

Kupp and Saubert are particularly interesting, and could be instructive when it comes to where Wieneke and Goedert might go.

Wieneke has been extraordinary for SDSU since his redshirt freshman season, already becoming the school’s all-time leader in yards and touchdowns, with just three catches to go to take over the top spot in that category. He’s averaged 74 catches, 1,397 yards and 14 touchdowns per season.

But as any Jackrabbit fan can tell you, it’s not just the numbers. Wieneke catches everything, using his size (6-4, 215), toughness and body control to go up and get catches even when he’s blanketed in good coverage. And he almost always seems to break the grasp of the first tackler, often turning a 30-yard fade into a 60-yard touchdown. The dude passes the eyeball test.

All that said, most FCS observers have considered Kupp to be a tad better than Wieneke. I couldn’t say why for sure, as I’ve never seen Kupp play. But he put up even bigger numbers than Jake, graduating as the all-time Division I leader in catches, yards and touchdowns. He’s the son of an NFL player and grandson of a Hall of Famer, and that’s a decided advantage. Pro teams love players with pro bloodlines.

That said, the 6-2 Kupp is two inches shorter than Wieneke, and ran a pedestrian 4.62 in the 40-yard dash. I don’t know that Wieneke would be expected to clock in better than that, but it’s a good sign for Jake that it didn’t knock Kupp down to the bottom half of the draft.

Another FCS receiver, Grambling’s Chad Williams, was also taken in the 3rd round, by Arizona. The 6-1 Williams had been projected lower than that.

Wieneke seems to be more production than projection – that might explain why the Maple Grove native is at SDSU in the first place, and not Minnesota, Wisconsin or another power five school – and it could lead to him being similarly overlooked by the NFL. But to me, Kupp going with the 69th overall pick suggests that barring injury, etc., Wieneke can count on being taken next year.

Kupp was credited by analysts for performing well when Eastern Washington played against major FBS teams, and Wieneke caught 8 passes for 196 yards and two TD’s last year at TCU and 8 for 160 yards and two TD’s the year before against Kansas.

As for Goedert, I’m trying to temper my own observer bias but there’s plenty of reason to think the Britton Bomber could go as early as any Jackrabbit in the modern era.

The first team All-American caught a school-record 92 passes for 1,293 yards and 11 touchdowns last year, giving the Jacks a weapon unlike any they’ve had before. He’s got wide receiver skills in a 6-4, 255-pound frame, with hands the size of a first baseman’s mitt. He can go deep, he can catch in traffic, and he’s so good as a ballcarrier SDSU even handed off to him a couple times last year.

Skilled, athletic tight ends are all the rage in the NFL, and Goedert was a Division II basketball prospect who was also an excellent soccer goalie. He is an unquestionably superior player to Saubert, the Drake tight end who went in the 5th round to Atlanta.

In 1999, SDSU tight end Steve Heiden was taken in the 3rd round by Cleveland and went on to have a solid 8-year NFL career. It’s hard to compare drafts that are 19 years apart, but if the Division II Heiden went in the third round, it’s not unreasonable to think Goedert could go that high as well. Maybe higher. Five tight ends were taken in the first two rounds this year.

You never know. Each draft is different. Some draft classes are deeper than others. Team needs are different, schemes and trends throughout the NFL fluctuate on a yearly basis. Goedert and Wieneke both have to stay healthy and produce another successful season. They also have a very real chance to play for an FCS national championship this fall. That will likely be their focus, but the farther the Jacks advance the more exposure they’d get as players.

Regardless of what happens next April, SDSU fans should appreciate the final season of two of the best players to ever put on a Jackrabbit uniform.